Interrupting others while talking

Hi all.

 

I have been on clonazepam for years and quit twice, once by taper and the other by cold turkey. I'm now benzo free for 32 months. However. I found that I cannot have conversations with other people without interrupting them.  This happened after coming down from Benzos.  I don't mean to do it, but it just happens. I also just blurt things out and don't say excuse me while trying to interject on another group's discussion.

 

Does any one else have this problem ? I don't know how to cope or fix this.

 

 

For me this seems to just be a bad habit - I am so anxious to get my wonderful brilliant idea in before it fades or the conversation shifts that I jump in, and then, of course, I'm sorry that I did it. I think this is fixable, but it is something that will require being super vigilant when others are speaking. If you continue to focus on not interrupting and keep your conscious mind pinpointed on this thought, it may help you to stop doing it. I know that if I focus, I don't interrupt - it's when I relax and get comfortable with the situation that it happens to me. It is also possible that you have a form of Tourette's syndrome possibly that manifested itself more noticeably because of the benzo use - anything is possible. If you find that you truly don't have any control over this, please speak to your doctor about it. He may want you to see a neurologist just to be sure that there isn't another cause. If they find out that you have a disorder such as Tourette's, there are techniques that can be taught to you that can help. But, first try just focusing and not doing it. It takes a lot of practice and you need to keep reminding yourself of it every single time you are in conversation with others. It is a pesky problem because it does give others a dim view of your conversation skills and is viewed as rude. That's a good enough reason to try and find out what's causing it and to find ways to control it. Best wishes.

Hi ABetterEnding,

In my hypomanic phase I'm like this. My brain is moving so fast that I can be telling myself," to just shut up' but am almost always helpless. And I often then feel terrible when alone afterward. Two things have helped somewhat, (1) look up information on micro momentary expressions often I can note them now and , if I'm lucky, I can stop sometimes -it may seem awkward to the other person. I might look at my watch and say,"oh on I gotta go" or if I'm stuck there I say," excuse me I need to use the rest room". Stopping it first feels like an incredible win. (2) I give my friends permission to tell me about it or even just end the conversation,;again, awkward at first, mostly I find because they feel it is rude to do to me. Here's the good part though, they get more comfortable with me once they try it and see nothing goes wrong and I find I can get control over my bouts more often. Frosting on the cake time- I'm becoming comfortable enough to ask new people I meet, that I'll be spending time with, to do the same thing.

Peace & hope 

Eutychus

I then count slowly to 10 until I speak. Helps a lot..

Or I do move my head in a certain way that needs a minute to do it

For me thats a problem because my brain is really faster working than the brain of others. And I just cannot understand why others are still at point 1 when I am at 10 at the same time.. but its really not polite to interrupt people so I developed some techniques to keep my mouth closed.